Fun times in Jakarta!

Bahasa Indonesian "Indonesian Language"

I thought it'd be interesting if I shared a few words and phrases that I've learned in Bahasa Indonesian. (Bahasa actually means language)

Greetings:
Halo - Hello
Selemat Pagi - Good Morning
Selemat Siang - Good Day (use during 12noon-3pm)
Selemat Sore - Good Afternoon ( use during 3pm - sun-down)
Selemat Malam - Good Evening (after dark)

Taxi Phrases:
Stop! - Stop
Kiri - left
Kanan - right
Terus - straight ahead
Lerus - straight (line)
Ini - here

Saya mau pergi ke ________. - I would like to go to _______.

Meals:
Makan pagi - breakfast
Makan siang - lunch
Makan malam - dinner
Makon - to eat, meal

Saya mau makan __________. - I would like to eat _________.

Words I use often:
Ma'af - sorry
Terima Kasih - thank you
Toilet - bathroom
Permisi - excuse me
Tolong - please

I'm learning more and more each day. Slowly but surely I will be able to speak to people. My goal is to not use a translator in church by February.

Tid-Bit about Muslim Holiday

Today (Thursday Sept. 13) is the beginning of Ramadan... (Muslim fasting). The muslims fast for four weeks. They eat and drink nothing in the day time hours, only after dark may they eat. They may not even swallow their saliva, so we will see lots of people spitting on the streets. Restaurants and buisinesses close shop early for the next week, so they can get home before dark. Restaurants and people who are not muslim, make sure to close their blinds, so the muslims do not see people eating. It is extremely insulting to eat or drink in front of a muslim during this time. They break the fast in four weeks with a huge holiday called Idul Fitri. This is two days of feasting for muslims. This is a tremedous holiday and most schools get two weeks off during this time. We only get 6 days off. Most places close down because people go home to their villages to confess all their sins to their family and ask for forgiveness... people travel thousands of miles away to go back to their villages during this time.

Depression in the city of Jakarta

Hello All!
I'm sure most of you heard about the 8.5 earthquake and the sunami afterwards. Don't worry, I'm writing to let you know I"m ok. I didn't even feel it. The 8.5 earthquake was off of a different island. It is so sad. Many people died from it. Terrible, terrible. We did however received a 7.9 after shock directly off of the coast of Jakarta. That one was felt by most of Jakarta. Not much damage was done to the city itself. And, as for me, I was in the shower and didn't even know there was an earthquake. My co-worker who lives below me felt it and freaked out! She said the doors started swinging and all she could hear was cracking and crumbling noises. She called me over and over on the phone, then she came and knocked on my door. Then she ran down to the lobby and wouldn't go back up to her room for hours. And the whole time I didnt hear anything. I was as content as could be singing in the shower! :)

My PDA (Bible Discussion Group) came over to my apartment about 30 minutes later and I asked them if they felt the earthquake. They all said, yes... but they weren't really concerned. They feel them so much here, its almost abnormal if you don't have one. So no one was really interested in talking about it. I appreciated all of your concerns and prayers for me and Jakarta. Its nice to know that I'm cared about back home.

There are so many ways I see depression in this city. Last weekend when I was driving with a friend through Jakarta, we drove by a burning building... people just staring at it... with the smallest fire engines and just a little bit of water, trying to put it out. Also we drove by a lady that had cimbed up into a tree and was threatening to jump and comitt suicide. There was a police officer trying to get her to come down... and a crowd of people watching. It was just terrible. So please say a little prayer for this city.

Women's Day and Worship Concert

This weekend, was amazing! I enjoyed my entire weekend with the church family. I am beginning to feel so much closer to people here, and I think I'm making some good friends. I feel bad because at church so many people come up to talk to me, and there at so many people in the church that I just can't remember who I meet on Sundays anymore. I forget everyone's name, unless I"ve spent time with them. I'm so encouraged that people want to be my friends. Here are some pictures of the concert this weekend. I tried to upload a video I taped, but I couldn't get it to work. The pictures don't do the concert justice. The concert had all kinds of special effects... a video, fake snow, different-colored lights, strobe lights, and confetti at the end.


This is our women's day program. It was so great and inspiring! Nadine Templer from India preached the lesson. We have some famous Indonesians that our a part of our church... so they put together a huge concert with all of their famous friends. It was a huge production and very well put together. I enjoyed myself.

This is a famous singer in Indonesia that is similar to our "Elton John." He sang at our Church Worship Concert.

This is another famous Indonesian singer (Jimmy). He is like our Justin Timberlake. He is studying the Bible. Cool, huh?

This is Ria Warner. She is a famous singer in Indonesia as well. Her career took off when she was nine years old. She is part of our church, and is one of the disciples that put the whole concert together. She now only pursues her singing career on the side, she has devoted her life to God, and is on staff in the church. She has got an amazing story.

More details on my trip to Singapore.

So I just spent the weekend in Singapore. Wow, what a neat country. I enjoyed it a lot. After a month in Indonesia, it was so refreshing to be in a first world country for a few days. I loved that I could drink the water anywhere I went; my sinus' did so much better in the polluntion-free air; I could communicate to others and ask simple questions; no taxi driver drove me around in circles; there were other blonde haired and light-eyed people therefore I didn't get started at like I was a lunatic; I ate some Ialian, and American food; and how could I forget that they spray for mosquitos twice a week, so I didn't have to worry about Dungay Fever or itching. Anyhow, I enjoyed myself a lot.

I stayed with an American woman and her Austrailian husband that are in the church in Singapore. They were so hospitable and took me everywhere. I even got to enjoy the Night Safari at the zoo. It was so neat to see Asian, African, South American animals in the nighttime. Since it is so hot in the day time, most animals are lazy and sleep or hide. In the night they come out to do their feeding and play. So I got to see some Rhinos playing in the mud, a tiger eating its dinner, all sorts of exotic birds and other animals. It was quite entertaining.

I had to shop on Orchard street in the down town area. Singapore is known for their shopping. And now I know why, they had everything. They had maybe ten or 15 shopping malls just on Orchard Street. On the street level of Orchard is very expesive shops. The malls are made for extremely wealthy people with stores such as... Coach, Dior, Prada, Luis Vultton ect... it made me sad, that never will I be able to shop like the people I saw there. :) But further a long there is the Lucky Plaza which is more for the local people (and less fortunate people like myself). This is more like Indonesia, with shops crammed together and less quality of things, its full of souviner shops. I bought a shirt with all the funny rules of the coutry (example, NO CHEWING GUM, NO SPITTING, NO FLUSHING THINGS DOWN THE TOILET)... I'll have to look at my shirt for more.

My favorite place, though in Singapore was the electronics mall. It was so huge and had everything you could ever need. (Dad, you'd love it.) It was 7 stories high with only electronics. This is the best place (with good quality of things, plus the cheapes) to buy computers. So I spent a lot of time in this place. A girl from the Singapore church went with me to find the perfect computer. She knew a lot about computers and is also from Indonesia so she knows how to bargain. I ended up leaving with a brand new MAC ibook. The store I bought it from wanted my buisness so bad he threw in a case, scratch protector, key protector, mouse, and speakers. And because I bought it in Singapore I got a tax refund from the airport. I think I did pretty well. Now all I need is the internet. :)

I spent almost all of my time with the people from the church. They have been so good to me. My friend from church (Kelly) that works with me in Jakarta set me up with all the people in Singapore. So I wasn't a lone a lot of the time. And people showed me everything. I got to go to a single woman's devo on Saturday and then out to dinner with the speaker. The speaker is from the states but has lived in Africa, Iraq (during the war), Suadi Arabia, and is now in Kruate. (Sorry my country spelling is terrible, but you get my jist). She was absolutely amazing. Sunday I got to go to church in English and sing in English and it was fabulous! They have about 800 people and they just built a new church building (Daren and Karla, I took notes and have so many ideas for ours). They had a book store in the church and I purchased a New Testament(12 cd's) and Old Testament (12 cds) series with a book for each along with cds of lessons, written by Douglas Jacoby. I'm so excited to start my new Bible Studies. Sometimes I just need to hear a lesson in English for myself (instead of translation).

Then I went to lunch with the singles and they are having a huge campaign this month so I helped them invite people to it. Then Monday morning they had a prayer and song devotional. So I had a full weekend. Of corse all of this along with my sightseeing. I was exhausted by the time it was time to go. I was pretty ready to leave and find my bed at home. But then when I got off the plane in Jakarta it was a quick realization that I am no longer in a 1st world country any more. :) It is good to be back in Jakarta, despite being started at and the communication barrier. I am beginning to make friends here and realized that as I was away. So it was good to come back to people who missed me, even if I've only been here a month.

Oh, some excited news I forgot to tell you. Now for some of you this may come as a shock so be prepared. I'm a TRACK COACH for the lower school here at NJIS! Isn't that funny. I'm sort of excited for it. We had ome practice already and the kids had fun. Don't worry, I'm not the only coach, I'm just an assisstant, which in reality means I'm just there as another adult. Ha! But I'm coming home with a COACH t-shirt!

Singapore!

This is a tastey treat that Indonesians love. I learned about it from my new friend inSingapore that is origionally from Indonesia. It is bread with butter and chocolate rice (chocolate rice is chocolate sprinkles). Its not bad, it tastes exactly how it sounds...like bread, butter and sprinkles.




You can't really tell from the picture, but it is pouring down rain. I was soaking wet just running from the taxi to the entrance to the mall. It rained harder then I've ever seen.

This is my friend from the Singapore church who took me to the huge electronics mall to get my laptop. She's so great, she bargained well for me.

If you look closely we are eating icecream folder up in a piecec of bread. Its a Holland treat that is popular in this area of the world. My icecream flavor is sweet corn. (it was quite yummy)

This is me at the Night Safari. It was so neat to see the animals in the night time. They are so much more active... Tiger eating its prey, hippos and rhinos playing in the mud, otters sorting out recycling. But I couldn't use my flash on my camera so none of the pictures turned out well. But it was something to remember.

Wow! Other "bulay" (white people). To the left of me is a disciple with an amazing story. She has lived in African villages, Iraq during the war (and couldn't leave her apartment), many other places and now lives in Kruate (huge muslim population). She was the speaker for our "singles talk."

And to my right is the married disciple that I stayed with. She's from the States. That's why they wanted me to stay with her. They were great hosts. Showed me everything I ever needed to see.

This gigantic building is the church in Singapore. The top floor is a cafe that is run by disciples and is only open before and after church on Sundays. The basement is a DPI library. They open it up to sell books every Sunday. It is beautiful inside.

Wonderful Family!

This is the fabulous family that has been taking such good care of me. (left to right) Donald (Father and church administrator), Madison (4 years old), Andrew (2 years old) Kelly (Mother and co-worker of mine). They take me to church every sunday and then out to lunch. I spent time with them periodically throughout the week as well. Its almost like I live with them. :)